Coronavirus forces world's oldest man from Hampshire to cancel 112th birthday celebrations

Bob Weighton, from Alton, took up the title of the oldest man in the world last month after the death of the previous holder, Chitetsu Watanabe of Japan. Mr Weighton turns 112 today.

Last year, the former teacher and engineer celebrated with his many friends at his retirement flat – but this year his plans have become ‘a dead loss’ because of the national lockdown.

He said: ‘Everything is cancelled, no visitors, no celebration. It's a dead loss as far as celebration is concerned.’

It isn’t the first global pandemic the Hampshire resident has faced, having lived through the Spanish flu pandemic which killed more than 50 million people in 1918, when he was 10 years old.

He said: ‘I only read about it in history books when I got older.

‘Actually I wasn't aware there was a Spanish flu around because none of my brothers and sisters or people I knew were affected.

Bob said that now the ‘world is in a bit of a mess’ with coronavirus and it worries him because ‘nobody knows what is going to happen’.

Self-isolation means he has become more dependent on the Brendoncare home where he lives, particularly for meals and from the assistant who helps him clean and lift heavier objects.

He said: ‘It means that I have to be more self-sufficient, do my own cooking, cleaning, read the books that I haven’t read.’

He said he had no secret to his longevity, adding: ‘I never intended to be this old. When you are young, you don't think about what is going to happen when you're old, you're self-engaged, all you think about is the here and now.

‘But he did say that his wide general interests from reading to constructing model windmills keep him active and young.

‘Those are things you do either naturally or don't do. People who complain are those who don't explore things that they might do themselves.’

The father-of-three has 10 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren.